VDARE Radio: The DACA Betrayal

During the presidential campaign, President Trump said he was going to end President Barack Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals amnesty, DACA, on “day one.” Then candidate Trump was also forceful in pushing back against those who constantly gave these maudlin tributes to “Dreamers,” saying that it was about time Americans started talking about the dreams of their own children.

Well, we are well past day one. Donald Trump has not done anything on DACA. Worse, he is now signaling that he is never going to do anything.

In a recent interview, Trump said “we are after the criminals…. That is our policy.” Well, that’s no different than what Barack Obama’s immigration policy was. Did we go through all this just to get another four or eight years of Barack Obama?

Trump’s speech in Phoenix was unambiguous. He stated, and I quote, that we will:

Yet the current situation is actually worse than this. It’s not just that President Trump won’t reverse Obama’s policy. He’s actually continuing to implement it and even extend it.

As Mark Kirkorian noted in a recent interview on Breitbart: “What’s remarkable is not that they didn’t fully follow through on that promise because politically I can see how immediately pulling work permits from hundreds of thousands of young people, each one of whom will get his own news story, could be something you want to avoid politically. But they haven’t even stopped issuing DACA work permits to new people who didn’t have them before.”

As VDARE.com has repeatedly pointed out, there is great reason to be concerned about Department of Homeland Security John Kelly. Donald Trump has a bad habit of deferring to generals, thinking them automatically tough guys who don’t put up with PC. But this is no longer true. As “Hannibal Batemen” noted in an important article:

Many, especially those on the right, tend to view the military through rose colored lenses. But it’s been just as infected by cultural Marxism as any other major American institution. This is especially true of its top brass, who must learn to play the game better than most. [Against Generals, Radix, December 12, 2016]

The first sign Donald Trump would disappoint us came when he put in General Kelly as the head of DHS instead of Kris Kobach. Kobach knows the issues, is not afraid of bad press, and understands what is at stake. In contrast, General Kelly seems to believe he needs to keep the congressional Democrats who want to impeach his boss on his side. He also is seemingly determined to avoid bad press, especially on DACA.

Kelly had a meeting with House Democrats in which he told them “I’m the best thing that happened to DACA…. it is still on the books.” He also reportedly told them, “If you don’t like the law we are enforcing, and I don’t like many of them, please, please, please change the law”. [“’I’m the best thing that happened to DACA,’” by David Choi, Business Insider, March 18, 2017 It’s absurd to think of an adult male talking this way, let alone a general in the United States Marine Corps.

Recently, General Kelly denied there would be a coast-to-coast wall on the southern border. “It’s unlikely that we will build a wall or physical barrier from sea to shining sea,” he told a Senate committee. “But it is very likely, I’m committed, to putting it where the men and women say we should put it” [DHS Head Kelly Says Border Wall Unlikely to Stretch ‘From Sea to Shining Sea,’ by Andrew Rafferty, NBC News, April 5, 2017].

Well, who speaks for those “men and women?” Presumably, that’s the Commissioner of Customs and Border Protection, the parent agency of the Border Patrol. And Donald Trump picked Kevin McAleenan, an Obama holdover who, as Brandon Darby reported, actively assisted efforts in the last administration to make the border less secure. Border Patrol agents, those whom Donald Trump promised he would “never let down,” are calling it a huge betrayal [Brandon Darby: Border Patrol Agents Feel Betrayed By The Trump Administration, by Ildefonso Ortiz, Breitbart, April 5, 2017].

Personnel is policy. By choosing General Kelly, and now Kevin McAleenan, President Trump is signaling that he is taking his immigration patriot supporters for granted. He thinks we will stick with him no matter what. Well, he might be able to “shoot someone on Fifth Avenue” and not lose support, but if he caves on immigration and amnesty, he’ll find his supporters are much more loyal to the cause than to the man.

President Trump is continuing to hold rallies around the country, including a recent one in Pennsylvania. The next time he holds a rally, I’m hoping we see some “End DACA” signs. Ending DACA is a promise Trump made to his supporters, and he said he would never let us down. It’s not like caving to the enemy is going to get him anything politically anyway.

It’s not the job of Trump voters to support him no matter. It’s their job to hold him accountable and to ensure he keeps his promises. After all, he promised he would never let us down – and he’s doing it now.

And for what? Message to Donald Trump – no one will give you any credit for weakness.